title: Glycaemic control in Australia and New Zealand before and after the NICE-SUGAR trial: a translational study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  There is no information on the uptake of Intensive Insulin Therapy (IIT) before the Normoglycemia in Intensive Care Evaluation and Surviving Using Glucose Algorithm Regulation (NICE-SUGAR) trial in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and on the bi-national response to the trial, yet such data would provide important information on the evolution of ANZ practice in this field. We aimed to study ANZ glycaemic control before and after the publication of the results of the NICE-SUGAR trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analysed glucose control in critically ill patients across Australia and New Zealand during a two-year period before and after the publication of the NICE-SUGAR study. We used the mean first day glucose (Glu1) (a validated surrogate of ICU glucose control) to define practice. The implementation of an IIT protocol was presumed if the median of Glu₁ measurements was <6.44 mmol/L for a given ICU. Hypoglycaemia was categorised as severe (glucose ≤2.2 mmol/L) or moderate (glucose ≤3.9 mmol/L).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We studied 49 ICUs and 176,505 patients. No ICU practiced IIT before or after NICE-SUGAR. Overall, Glu1 increased from 7.96 (2.95) mmol/L to 8.03 (2.92) mmol/L (P <0.0001) after NICE-SUGAR. Similar increases were noted in all patient subgroups studied (surgical, medical, insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, ICU stay >48/<48 hours). The rate of severe and moderate hypoglycaemia before and after NICE-SUGAR study were 0.59% vs. 0.55% (P =0.33) and 6.62% vs. 5.68% (P <0.0001), respectively. Both crude and adjusted mortalities declined over the study period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IIT had not been adopted in ANZ before the NICE-SUGAR study and glycaemic control corresponded to that delivered in the control arm of NICE-SUGAR trial. There were only minor changes in practice after the trial toward looser glycaemic control. The rate of moderate hypoglycaemia and mortality decreased along with such changes.
authors.forename: Kirsi-Maija
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kaukonen
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pilcher
authors.forename: Neil
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Orford
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Finfer
authors.forename: Rinaldo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellomo
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D003422:Critical Care; D016638:Critical Illness; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007328:Insulin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D057170:Translational Research, Biomedical; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007004:Hypoglycemic Agents; D007328:Insulin